Spray for neoprene waders to make them easier to put on?

[redietz 0]

nobody wades in water over their heads I guess you could fall out of a kayak and be over your head but it's just as easy to get in a kayak with your waders.

 

Nobody deliberately wades over their heads, but it's quite easy to do by stepping off an underwater ledge you didn't know was there.

 

I haven't done that one (yet) but I've watched others do it.

[tjm 0]

So why do the wader makers equate foot size with tallness??

 

I was just looking for boot foot canvass or ? waders and find size 12 have an inseam of 36-41"; since I'm 5-11 with 29 inseam a guy with 41" inseam must be about 6'11" , yet all the guys I ever knew that were over 6-5 had size 14-16 etc shoes.

fwiw, several places say they have boot foot breathables, mixed revues.

[Bimini15 0]

I used to wear Hodgman breathables when wading inshore, paired with felt boots. I have not done that for a while now, but...

If I recall correctly, air squeezed out of the wader as I was getting in the water. I do not remember having air pockets.

I never waded deep enough to get close to the opening. There was some current most of the time and I was in fairly soft bottoms often. Did not want to suddenly sink, swamp and/or possibly become a drag anchor. This is the real danger in my opinion.

Eventually the waders wore out and I never replaced them. I then waded with flats boots and regular quick drying apparel. It’s South Florida after all.

[chugbug27 0]

I don't know what's worse, drowning in my goretex waders or suffocating under this dog pile

[Bimini15 0]

Go on..., please!

[phg 0]

People drown because they panic. This is especially likely to happen if the victim isn't a good swimmer to begin with, or if they are caught in a strong current.

 

If you fall and fill up your waders, keep your head, find a calm(er) shallow spot to crawl out, and peal off your waders as you emerge from the water.

 

My worst encounter was while wearing breathable waders with a good wading belt. I slipped and fell in not-to-deep water, but my legs and butt were so buoyant that I had a hard time getting off my back. With some effort, I was able to roll over onto my hands and knees. With my butt out of the water, I was able to stand up. My shirt and jacket (it was winter) were soaked, but my pants stayed dry.

[JSzymczyk 0]

100% agree on the size issue--- IF I was ever in a position to be buying $600+ waders I would get custom fit booties... I have 13-14 size feet and and it seems that all reasonably affordable brands except Cabela's think that if you have size13 feet you must also weigh 500 pounds.

 

Two years ago I needed new breathable waders and I went with waist-high, which are actually more like belly-button high unless you like the crotch of your pants to be at your knees. I'm not going back to chest waders except in some weird extreme circumstances. The waist-highs are so much easier to deal with and it is hard to understand how the few extra inches of material and suspenders of chest waders make such a huge difference. If the conditions are at all reasonable, I wet wade anyhow.

 

I kayak fish as much as any kind of fishing, and yes I have intentionally gone in the water while wearing them. I use my equipment to keep me alive, not kill me. No problems.

[flytire 0]

try finding waders for a size 8 shoe and a 25 inch inseam!

 

simms and patagonia used to custom make them years ago

[tjm 0]

I emailed the simms people about this and they rudely told me that the extra leg would give me more room to move! I had in mind a custom build, still do kinda, but I;ll never deal with those people or wear their products again.

 

Foot size has nothing at all to do with other proportions, Grandpa was 6'2" and wore size 6 1/2 eee. Even height has nothing to do with legs length, brother an inch shorter than me has 6" longer legs.

 

For $800 any garment or shoe I buy will fit.

 

Have any of you had experience with Caddis system waders?

[tjm 0]

Oh, yeah I had my waders full a time or two and didn't drown. How much water can they hold with me inside? I guess about 12# more or less. Maybe as much as 4 gallons, 16#? Never looked like that much when I emptied them.

I useta could swim in them canvass Hodgemans, guessin a man could in these light weights too.

I don't (or haven't in the past) wear a wader belt, couple reasons; I like the vest inside the wader tops for that one extra step and secondly the belt (like the separate shoe) just makes it harder to get out of the waders.

[Patriot 0]

This is just a quick note about the new Simms GT waders from last weeks trip to the San Juan River in Northern New Mexico.

 

When I took my waders off after the first day on the river (Monday), my socks were very wet. I won't say they were soaked, but I was taken back by how wet they were. My only thought was the waders had leaked and I was not happy with that accessment because this is a brand new pair of expensive waders we're talking about. This was going to ruin my entire week. However, I did bring my old Orvis neoprene waders. Just in case, right?

 

I inverted the GT waders, hung them up so they would dry out, and left it at that.

 

The following day it was overcast and raining, so I decided to wear my neoprene waders and avoid the wet feet from the day before. After the usual sumo-wrestling match of putting these waders on, I decided I did not want to deal with this and slid back into the GT waders. After being spoiled by the roominess and ease of putting on the GT waders, the neoprenes never stood a chance, but the wet feet experience of the previous day weighted heavily on my mind. So, with some trepidation, off I went into the gray, rainy day bundled in the GT waders.

 

At days end, I slid the waders off and again was shocked - my socks were cold but dry!! So, how the heck could this be? At some point I had a chat with someone on the river and he speculated that the wet feet must have been due to sweat. That is plausible, but I was very skeptical that I could have sweat that much.

 

For the following three days on the river my feet never got as wet as they had on Monday, so I suppose that his sweat comment was probably correct. In my mind, that was a lot of sweat, but I did do a lot of walking trying to find a trail to the river in the afternoon, so that probably did cause me to sweat to a greater degree than normal. It was warm and sunny which would have contributed to the sweat factor.

 

Bottom line: I am now very pleased with the GT waders. I was not sure how much to layer up inside these waders to keep me warm in the 40 degree water, but a pair of slick 'long johns' beneath a pair of heavy fleece pants kept me warm plus heavy socks, of course. As someone noted earlier, I did have to step out of the cold water after four hours or so, to warm my feet up. That worked out well because it was time for my packed lunch anyway.

 

Now, the problem is what to do with the old neoprene waders? Cut 'em up and use them for nymph wing pads?

 

P.S. I think that Simms should have incorporated 'knee pads' to these waders. It could be argued that we normally do not kneel when fishing unless we're trying to 'sneak up' on trout by crawling to the rivers edge. It could also be argued that unless these 'knee pads' are hot glued on any sewn seams could potentially leak over time, so perhaps this is not such a good idea after all. Light weight slide-on protective knee pads? Just a thought.

 

On the plus side, the built-in gravel guards are a huge improvement over the slide-on style gravel guards that came with my old neoprene waders

 

[chugbug27 0]

Thinner socks and don't overheat. The sweat has nowhere to go

[Patriot 0]

Thinner socks and don't overheat. The sweat has nowhere to go

LOL! Good idea.

[Poopdeck 0]

For the price I'm surprised, no shocked the knees are not padded. But, in over 50 years of fishing I have never seen anybody crawling on the bank sneaking up on trout. Read about people doing this but I've never seen it.

[Patriot 0]

For the price I'm surprised, no shocked the knees are not padded. But, in over 50 years of fishing I have never seen anybody crawling on the bank sneaking up on trout. Read about people doing this but I've never seen it.

 

You know, when I wrote that, I thought that doing so would look a bit odd especially since thick willow stands grow right up to the waters edge where I fish. And, sneaking up on a fish was never gonna happen anyway. Mr. Fish can probably hear you stomping up to the bank way before you ever see him. However, in all fairness, I did see a video of a bunch of guys up in the mountains somewhere sneaking up on some trout in a stream, but when one of the guys cast his line it hit the water like a ton of bricks, which I have no doubt helped his cause.

 

So, you see, there is a time and a place for stealthing up on unaware fish and reinforced wader knees can really make your day.

 

Right.